Syrian rocket fire hits northern Israel

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Israel's fears that Syria's civil war could spill across its northern border began to be realized this week as mortar shells and rockets fired by the Syrian army landed in the Golan Heights.

A number of mortar shells landed near agricultural fields belonging to Israeli kibbutzim in the northern Golan on Tuesday. A day later, a short-range missile struck in the central Golan. Neither of the incidents caused any injuries or damage.

In both instances, the munitions were believed to have been fired by Syrian government forces battling rebels close to the Israel-Syria border.

Both the forces loyal to Syrian dictator Bashar Assad and the Sunni-dominated rebels are overtly hostile toward Israel, and Jerusalem is concerned that either may at any moment try to drag the Jewish state into the raging conflict for their own benefit.

So real has the threat become that the Israeli army last week held an exercise simulating a surprise cross-border attack by the Syrian army or rebel forces. Israel also believes that Lebanon's Hizballah militia may start a fresh round of conflict in order to influence the outcome of Syria's civil war.

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